A Very Late Halloween

 

Yes I know Halloween was over a month ago and I may or may not have forgotten to blog this (oops) but better late then never right? Anyhow I am sorry and here they are, my very late Halloween cupcakes.

See these were made under huge time constraint and so I went with the “look at what’s already in your cupboard and decorate” method and all completed in two hours flat!

First up, "BOO!" Since I made smaller cupcakes than usual all three letters wouldn’t fit on one so I split them up. I have always liked the fondant finish on cupcakes and even though it was my first go these were super easy to make and turned out really neat. Frost the cupcake lightly and then attach the fondant cut out. I also suggest cutting out the fondant at the very last second so the fondant does'nt start to harden. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now if it is cooler this will be enough to make it stick but since Melbourne is temperamental I found out later on that frosting does not appreciate spikes in temperature so if in doubt use something firmer like royal icing. I attached the letters with a little bit of water and held it there for a bit to make sure it stayed.  

 

For the classic "spider web" cupcake I didn’t have enough time to make an edible spiders to go with it but I think it’s still very effective. I coloured white frosting green, for a more menacing look, and warmed it a little so I could dip the cupcake right in instead of fiddling with a specular. The dipping gives it a cleaner look when it dries. However once you’ve dipped you have to be quick, draw a spiral with black writing icing and with a toothpick drag away from the centre. Here you have it:

 

 

Nothing says Halloween like creepy crawlies especially when they taste this good. For the “worms in the mud” cupcakes I frosted the cupcakes with chocolate frosting, sprinkled Oreo crumbs, halved gummy worms and stuck them in the cupcake. It was literally that easy! 

 

 

 

 

Ah and then there were the “fangs”. My love affair with vampires began thanks to Ann Rice and so naturally vampire fangs had to be on my cupcakes. Again I went with the fondant finish on the cupcake, white offcourse, and then got some teeth candy and sniped the last teeth into points. To add that little bit more I coloured some frosting red and dipped the teeth in and placed it on the cupcake. 

All the “mummies” required were two MnM’s as eyes and a piping tip with a smooth flat side. I used a basketweave tip and making sure that the flat side was on top pipe on the bandages. The beauty is that with the mummy the piping doesn’t have to be particularly tidy or symmetrical because hey it’s a mummy! Just make sure to go over the eyes so they stay on.

 

The “pumpkin patch” took the longest just because I made the pumpkin topper. For the grass I used green frosting and a large star tip. Again it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to look like grass. For the pumpkin I rolled an orange ball of fondant, flattened the bottom so it wouldn’t roll and with a skewer poked a hole on the top and indented the sides to make it a bit more realistic. With a little green fondant I made a few vines and Voila!